SADV FTTH feedback

Hi Betaproject. Its been 12 days since my application to cool ideas and still no one is getting back to be on when service can be provided. Don't get to excited about this. It could take another three months to get a connection up at De Velde
.
 
I noticed a couple of days ago that SADV is advertising new pricing at our lifestyle centre. 10Mbps @R699 and 20Mbps @R999. I am hoping that this is in response to other ISPs now being able to provide internet access at lower prices.

But ja. I am moving in a couple of months, and the new place has live DFA fibre running within 5 metres of the boundary wall, but I can't find any ISP willing to use it without me doing their marketing for them. Same old story. Guess it's back to messenger pigeons for me.
 
I have recently upgraded my fibre from 15\7.5\175 to 100\100\600 through SADV and can say that the process was pretty seamless and I am definitely getting the speeds that they promise.
 
I am satisfied with what I currently get from SADV (although I wish international speeds were better), but it seems they might be dragging their feet a bit when it comes to allowing users to use a different ISP on their network. As I understand it, once you place an order with a different ISP such as Cool Ideas, they submit that order to SADV in order to set things up on their side, and that seems to be where the delay comes in.

I might be wrong, but if it is the case, it would be nice to get feedback from the ISP you place the order with, even if it is to inform you there is a delay in processing, instead of them just keeping quiet.
 
BetaProject said:
I am satisfied with what I currently get from SADV (although I wish international speeds were better), but it seems they might be dragging their feet a bit when it comes to allowing users to use a different ISP on their network. As I understand it, once you place an order with a different ISP such as Cool Ideas, they submit that order to SADV in order to set things up on their side, and that seems to be where the delay comes in.

I might be wrong, but if it is the case, it would be nice to get feedback from the ISP you place the order with, even if it is to inform you there is a delay in processing, instead of them just keeping quiet.
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Unfortunately this is the complete truth, the situation is that SADV only recently built the system to accommodate other ISPs so there is still a lot of polishing to do before this becomes a seamless process. But you have to start somewhere.
 
MagicDude4Eva said:
To be honest, I do not consider anything less than 20/20Mbps a FTTH solution.
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MagicDude4Eva said:
I personally do not call anything fibre if it is less than 50mbps.
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MagicDude4Eva said:
There is just no way that I personally call anything fibre if it is not more than 40Mbps.
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Make up your mind man!

Anyway it looks like these guys have also been chosen for our complex, also a Balwin development. There is definitely something dodgy going on since residents were not consulted on this decision at all.

It's not a fight that I have time for though so it looks like we might be stuck with them for a while. I was wondering 2 things:
1) Has the open access thing been resolved yet?
2) What's the quality like on the contended product? Speeds? Shaping/throttling/FUP? I'm considering the 10 Mbps uncapped, it seems better than what I have at the moment (Neotel 2 Mbps uncapped at the same price).
 
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Mike Hoxbig said:
Make up your mind man! :p

Anyway it looks like these guys have also been chosen for our complex, also a Balwin development. There is definitely something dodgy going on since residents were not consulted on this decision at all.

It's not a fight that I have time for though so it looks like we might be stuck with them for a while. I was wondering 2 things:
1) Has the open access thing been resolved yet?
2) What's the quality like on the contended product? Speeds? Shaping/throttling/FUP? I'm considering the 10 Mbps uncapped, it seems better than what at the moment (Neotel 2 Mbps uncapped at the same price).
Click to expand...

Yep, I can not make up my mind ;-). We have departed from the SADV idea as they could never provide a single reference installation where there is any other ISP operating on top of their network. The open access seems to be only on paper in the form of a memorandum of understanding with Vodacom (in this instance Vodacom would allow other ISPs onto their network - I highly doubt this will ever happen).

SADV also never budged from their insanely long exclusivity nor was their pricing any good. We eventually opted for Metro Fibre Networks who has quite a number of ISPs running on their network. Their exclusivity is 6 months and within the initial rollout (will take about 2-3 months) they will not allow connectivity via another ISP - this is understandable as the estate is still under construction and you would rather have one single point of contact for support.

Some people seem to be very happy with SADV, but none of them are really power-users - most switched from iBurst or 3G to SADV. The iBurst guys are raving which is understandable as they really never had internet to begin with (my switch from iBurst to 4Mbps ADSL back in the days was an incredible experience). I have not come across anyone who has switched from 10/20Mbps ADSL to SADV - I have also not heard of any heavy users (i.e. FPS gamers, HD streaming etc).

For me the deciding factor against them was that their lack of transparency and willingness to answer simple questions.
 
We also had no say in the SADV rollout. I was still approaching other ISP's, and trying to get appointments with the HOA and managing agents, when the announcement was made about the SADV rollout.

For the first few months, we had a several instances of downtime. Everything seems stable now.

I wouldn't say I am happy with SADV (overpriced, below-average communication, high ping (200 or more) to international game servers), but the connection is steady, and more than enough for four simultaneous streams. I get a steady 9.8Mbps throughput.

I do maybe 280GB a month on streaming on the 10Mbps uncapped, with OS and game updates, and general downloading added on top of that. Considering that my only other choices are 3G or spotty LTE connectivity (no ports for ADSL, according to Telkom), I am satisfied.
 
So I emailed regarding their acceptable use policy on their uncapped products, since I can't find this anywhere on their site.

Their response was that they do not shape or throttle their uncapped products. Can anyone confirm this?
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Make up your mind man!

Anyway it looks like these guys have also been chosen for our complex, also a Balwin development. There is definitely something dodgy going on since residents were not consulted on this decision at all.

It's not a fight that I have time for though so it looks like we might be stuck with them for a while. I was wondering 2 things:
1) Has the open access thing been resolved yet?
2) What's the quality like on the contended product? Speeds? Shaping/throttling/FUP? I'm considering the 10 Mbps uncapped, it seems better than what I have at the moment (Neotel 2 Mbps uncapped at the same price).
Click to expand...

We as CISP are one of the first ISPs on the SADV network, we have placed many orders with them thus far. Their processes are still very new so there is quite a delay with these things to start with.
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
So I emailed regarding their acceptable use policy on their uncapped products, since I can't find this anywhere on their site.

Their response was that they do not shape or throttle their uncapped products. Can anyone confirm this?
Click to expand...

I was never throttled or shaped while on their 5mb Uncapped option. We nexflixed, gamed and did other things quite hard.
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
So I emailed regarding their acceptable use policy on their uncapped products, since I can't find this anywhere on their site.

Their response was that they do not shape or throttle their uncapped products. Can anyone confirm this?
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I have never experience any throttling or shaping in the past year and a half I used them. My TV is not hooked up to anything besides a pc; I stream everything, game a lot, download often (very little p2p, though).
 
MagicDude4Eva said:
What firmware are you running? AFAIK those only have 2Ghz and no 5Ghz radios.
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Yep, only 2ghz. Running stock I think. Locked out of the router so cant really check.

Theres not many interfering signals, just that the switch generates a fairly weak signal and there is no slot for an external antennae
 
xcaliber said:
Yep, only 2ghz. Running stock I think. Locked out of the router so cant really check.

Theres not many interfering signals, just that the switch generates a fairly weak signal and there is no slot for an external antennae
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What? So you can not check/change radio channels, adjust firewall settings and QoS? With MFN current firmware is 11.1.70.15 and latest (11.1.130) is supposedly being rolled out in the next few weeks.
 
MagicDude4Eva said:
What? So you can not check/change radio channels, adjust firewall settings and QoS? With MFN current firmware is 11.1.70.15 and latest (11.1.130) is supposedly being rolled out in the next few weeks.
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Yep. When I first got it I could logon to it but after they set it up on there side. I could no longer log in and change any settings. Whats MFN?
 
MagicDude4Eva said:
What? So you can not check/change radio channels, adjust firewall settings and QoS? With MFN current firmware is 11.1.70.15 and latest (11.1.130) is supposedly being rolled out in the next few weeks.
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HomeConnect and some others force you to use their locked router. You must contact them to make changes to WiFi and QoS. It's for "security"
 
koeksGHT said:
HomeConnect and some others force you to use their locked router. You must contact them to make changes to WiFi and QoS. It's for "security"
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Can they unlock you permanently and give you full access, or do you have to keep contacting them? It's bullschit to lock you out of managing your own network...
 
xcaliber said:
Whats MFN?
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MetroFibre Networks.

koeksGHT said:
HomeConnect and some others force you to use their locked router. You must contact them to make changes to WiFi and QoS. It's for "security"
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Wow - that is a true PITA. The 813G has some great capabilities. I have refined the whole QoS setup and in my opinion it is probably one of the best ways to do this. I am puzzled that providers do not give access. How do you know that remote access is not enabled and that security is not locked down?

I suppose that anyone with a locked down router will then have a proper firewall behind it - or?
 
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